"Even if you never met him, you know this guy. He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by." That, we're pretty sure you've heard already, is Karl Rove's gimlet eyed character assessment…

Do you ever wonder, where do the weapons our Pentagon is buying to supply the Afghan counterinsurgency actually come from? Well, duh, China, but, let's start over. Meet Efraim Diveroli. He has some sort of $300 million Pentagon contract to supply ammunition to the government. He also has: never had a real job, a…

In the rural mountains of Albania, "sworn virgins" — women who take a vow of celibacy in order to be afforded the same privileges as men — are dying out thanks to the introduction of capitalism and democracy. The tradition of "sworn virgins" is an ancient one in the Balkans, and derives from something called the law…